Tottenham 0-1 Ajax: Champions League semi-final player ratings

A big setback for Spurs, then, but as their manager insists, it’s just 0-1 and they’re not out of it yet. See you here next Wednesday for the second leg in Amsterdam? Great news. In the meantime, here’s Daniel Taylor’s definitive match report. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!

Tottenham struggle for firepower after Donny van de Beek strikes early for Ajax

And here’s the verdict of Mauricio Pochettino. “We started not in a good way. My feeling is, they were more reactive, showed more energy, and it was difficult for us to play. Our lack of energy and our approach made it difficult. After we conceded, we started to build, Sissoko provided the team good energy. We started to play the way we wanted to play. In the second half we pushed them. We are still alive, we are only 1-0 down, we need to believe that we can go there and win. I cannot say the shape we started with was wrong, we did not have too many options. Of course I am not happy. Our lack of energy was the problem, we were a little bit sloppy, the shape was not why we conceded. Our approach wasn’t good. It is my responsibility always, because I am the manager. We must keep positive for the second leg.” No updates on Vertonghen.

A word with the Ajax match-winner Donny van de Beek. “For the first 30 minutes we player really good. After that, Tottenham changed something tactical and we had problems with that, but 1-0 is OK. Next week we have to finish it. I hope! The beginning was good and after we played not what we can. But we win, and we have to make a good plan for next week. We have to stay calm this week, because we play for the cup, we want to win that also, and then we play the second game. We can do better.”

Christian Eriksen gives a full and frank appraisal of events. “We didn’t play our best at all. The first 20 minutes we were just ball-watchers. Against a team that likes possession, that’s a no-go. We have to change it up a lot for the next game. We made them look a lot better than they are. Of course they are a good side, but we helped them on their way. We gave them the feeling that they can control things. It was our fault. It didn’t matter what the system was, we were just second to every ball. It is far from what we know we can do. Nobody wanted to play the first half like we did. We need to step up. We are lucky they hit the post, because 2-0 would be a lot different next week. But hopefully we can turn things around in Amsterdam.”

A bad result for Spurs, extremely disappointing, though in truth it could have been worse. Ajax totally bossed the first half, Donny van de Beek sending Hugo Lloris off for the paper and slotting home, and could easily have gone in with a bigger lead. They nearly found that elusive second goal during a more equal second half, David Neres hitting the post having beaten a static Lloris. But one goal was enough for a first-leg advantage. Spurs never seriously troubled Andre Onana in the Ajax goal. On this evidence, turning this round in Amsterdam next week is a big ask. But never say never, because Son Heung-min will be back from suspension, and will pose Ajax some different problems. There’s always hope.

Ajax’s players come over to celebrate with their supporters after their victory. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

90 min +2: Foyth fouls Tadic out on the left wing. A free kick. In the background, Pochettino’s shoulders slump. He knows the jig is up tonight. His team will have to win in Amsterdam if they’re to reach the final.

90 min: Foyth does extremely well to reach the byline down the right and whip a ball through the box. It nearly finds Alli, just to the left of the D ... but not quite. There will be three added minutes.

83 min: Onana is taking his sweet time over his goal kicks. It’s something of a surprise that the referee hasn’t had a word with him, never mind booking him. But he’s getting away with it, and the crowd’s temper is brittle as a result.

82 min: Spurs push forward through Eriksen, who can’t find a killer pass but lays off to Moura, who is clipped over by Ziyech. A free kick, 25 yards out, a little to the right of centre. Eriksen’s eyes light up. But no, he decides against a direct strike, and looks for Alderweireld at the far post. He finds his man, but the defender heads weakly over the bar.

Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld, third from left, fails to score as he heads the ball over the bar. Photograph: Frank Augstein/AP

78 min: Mazraoui powers his way down the right, tussling all the way with Eriksen to the edge of the box. He shuttles the ball inside for Tadic, who could shoot, but instead unselfishly offloads to Neres, in lots of space to his left. Neres looks for the bottom right, and beats Lloris but hits the bottom of the post. The ball bounces out and away. Spurs get away with a big one.

76 min: Eriksen works the ball left for Rose, who strides into the box and shoots. For a second, this looks extremely promising. But Veltman comes across and times his block perfectly. From the resulting corner, Eriksen balloons an awful effort miles over the bar.

74 min: It briefly threatens to kick off between Alli and Neres, a dispute over a throw near the halfway line for goodness sake. Pochettino is on hand to step in between the squabbling players and calm everything down in double-quick time.

73 min: Neres, out on the left, slips the ball inside for de Jong, who works it on to Tadic. Spurs just about keep the door shut. Ajax are showing signs of working their way back into their first-half groove.

71 min: Trippier plays a loose ball backwards and Tadic nips in. He’s dribbling towards the box with purpose. Trippier’s lucky that Alderweireld, Wanyama and Sissoko combine to close him down. For a split second there, another Ajax away goal looked on the cards.

70 min: Rose is again in an awful lot of space down the left. Sissoko spots him, and rakes a high crossfield pass towards him. Onana comes for everything, though, and here he is catching the high ball once more. He drops it, but only because Rose has clattered into him. Free kick. He’s fun to watch, Onana. An entertainer. A touch of the Grobbelaars about him.

69 min: Alli spreads a ball wide left to Rose, who is in acres. Rose for some reason attempts a first-time cross, instead of making his way into the box, and his ball doesn’t beat the first man. Blind heads clear, a dangerous situation wasted.

65 min: Ajax make their first change of the night. Schone is replaced by Mazraoui. Schone looks highly piqued at being hooked, but Ajax require a little boost in the midfield, and the decision’s been made.

63 min: Veltmen gifts Alli the ball out on the Spurs left, then hauls his man down in a panic. Booking. Eriksen whips the free kick into the box, low and hard. Llorente springs the Ajax line, but can’t connect with a flailing leg. Half a chance, that.

62 min: Moura slips away from a dithering de Jong, just to the right of the Ajax box. He looks for Llorente with his cross, but can’t quite find his man. Spurs are beginning to push Ajax back at long last.

61 min: Moura is blocked as he makes his way down the right at speed. Free kick, and another chance for Trippier to launch long into the box. Which he does, but Ajax have held an absurdly high line, and there’s nobody at all in the area. Up goes Onana, pluckety pluck.

58 min: Eriksen sashays in from the left and causes some panic in the Ajax defence, nearly springing Llorente clear with a cute Cruyff-to-Haan-1971-style pass down the channel. But the door’s slammed shut just in time.

56 min: Moura makes his presence felt to the right of the Ajax D. The ball’s slipped wide to Trippier, who floats a cross to the back stick, where Alli rises highest. He should do much better than heading harmlessly over. Yet another thing to file under That’s Better, though.

55 min: Spurs are seeing more of the ball, too ... it’s just that they’re not doing a great deal with it. But this is a step up from their first-half performance. Having gone to a flat back four in the wake of Vertonghen’s departure, it’s amazing what an extra man in midfield can do.

51 min: This is a really open game. A mistake by Sanchez allows Ziyech and Neres to bear down on the Spurs box. The ball breaks to Tadic on the penalty spot, but he can’t get a shot away. Rose slides in to hook the ball away from danger with Neres lurking.

50 min: Alli, Eriksen and Moura cause Ajax some problems on the edge of their box. The ball breaks back to Alli, in a little space down the inside left. The ball sits up nicely for a shot, which is whistled straight down Onana’s throat. The first shot in anger on target for Spurs.

48 min: Rose wins a corner down the left. The set piece eventually finds Llorente, who goes on another tricky dribble down that flank, then Trippier hooks a cross into the mixer. Onana comes through a bunch of players to pluck from the sky.

46 min: Almost immediately from kick-off, Llorente juggles the ball on the edge of the Ajax box but can’t quite get a shot away. For a second, there was a big gap in that Ajax defence. Then the visitors go up the other end, Tagliafico dragging a shot wide right from 25 yards.

We’re off again! Ajax keep Spurs waiting before rocking up fashionably late for the second half. Spurs get the ball rolling again. No half-time changes. A big 45 minutes lies ahead. A little bit more on Vertonghen: he’s in the medical room being assessed by doctors. Just before tonight’s tale unfolds ahead of us, here’s a brief blast of common sense from Hubert O’Hearn: “I wish there was a rule allowing for a 10-15 minute substitution to properly check a player for concussion, with no penalty to the team.”

An update on Jan Vertonghen. According to BT Sport, he’s “OK in the dressing room”, which is wonderful news given his woozy condition as he was helped from the pitch. “Spurs have too much invested in this game for the physios and coaching staff to make a rational decision about the health of an important player like Jan Vertonghen,” argues Preston Goulson from across the pond. “Take that decision out of their hands and put an independent official on the sidelines to make a clear-eyed assessment. It was a critical step that the NFL took several years ago, and it will be just as important in football. There have been too many Hugo Lloris/Jan Vertonghen situations already, and it’s unconscionable.”

HALF TIME: Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Ajax

There’s just enough time for Sissoko to slice a powerful shot wide right from 20 yards, and that’s that for the first half. Strangely, given all that had gone before, and Ajax’s almost total dominance, the half-time whistle came at the wrong moment for Spurs, who were finally beginning to ask a question or two. That may give them succour for the second half.

45 min +3: A free kick for Spurs out on the right. Trippier curls it towards Alderweireld on the penalty spot, clear in a big gap between Blind and de Ligt. Alderweireld tries to guide a looping header into the top right; had it been on target, it was in, because Onana was beaten. But it drifts just over the bar. Spurs finally showing in attack, and it’s all about high balls hoicked into the box. Ajax don’t look comfortable dealing with them.

45 min +2: A bit of head tennis in the Ajax box, resulting from a Rose throw from the left. For the first time tonight, Ajax look a little panicked, with Llorente and Alli lurking. But Spurs can’t get a header goalwards, and eventually a dreadful Trippier cross from the right releases the pressure.

45 min: Ziyech, Schone and de Jong flick the ball down the right in pretty triangles. Once again, Spurs are nearly opened up. They really need to get through to half-time without conceding a second. And there are still five minutes to go, a lengthy period of stoppage time the result of poor Vertonghen’s injury.

43 min: Hearts in Tottenham mouths as Neres is sent clear down the left. He’s clear of Sanchez, momentarily. But the big defender makes up the ground, causing Neres to question himself as he enters the box and lose the run of his feet. Over he goes. And then the flag goes up late for offside anyway.

42 min: Lucas Moura looks to be Tottenham’s best bet of getting back into this tonight. He dribbles with great purpose down the inside-left channel and enters the area. It’s a fine run, but Veltman comes in from behind and executes a perfectly timed tackle. No penalty. A corner, from which nothing comes.

41 min: Both teams are a little cold after the restart. Lucas Moura bursts down the inside-right channel and looks for a white shirt in the middle, but Onana snaffles. Then a free kick for Ajax, looped into the Spurs box; de Ligt back-flicks a header wide right.

39 min: No, this was obviously going to happen. Vertonghen appears incredibly unsteady, and he asks to come off. That immediately happens, with Sissoko coming on to take his place, Spurs shifting to a back four. Vertonghen makes to go down the tunnel, and then half-collapses. He’s caught by his concerned manager Pochettino. This is horrible to watch. He’s taken away looking very unsteady on his feet, down the tunnel, everyone’s thoughts with him.

37 min: Vertonghen finally gets a new pair of shirts and shorts. All the blood cleaned up. The referee double-checks with the Spurs bench that he’s been tested for concussion. The answer’s yes, and the player is eventually allowed back on. Here’s Ian Copestake: “Spurs are not so much all over the shop as standing outside said establishment waiting for the owner to arrive to open it up so they can start work.”

Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen is checked for concussion. Photograph: The Guardian